Defendant Contends Narcotics Deputies Grabbed Thousands

A Mexican national who pleaded guilty to laundering drug money has claimed that tens of thousands of dollars seized when he was arrested by three sheriff’s narcotics agents was never turned over as evidence, a federal source said Thursday.

The three deputies--James R. Bauder, Eufrasio G. Cortez and Terrell H. Amers--and six other members of a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department narcotics team were suspended last Friday pending completion of local and federal inquiries into the alleged skimming of seized drug money.

“There is money missing from this case, the exact amount I can’t tell you,” said defense attorney Victor Sherman, who said he will file a motion to withdraw client Carlos Luis Soto’s guilty plea next week.

Soto, 20, was arrested last November when the three deputies seized large amounts of cash from his pickup truck after it left a Pomona warehouse where nearly 700 pounds of cocaine was found. A variety of drug charges against two co-defendants were withdrawn by federal prosecutors Tuesday because the cases relied on the testimony of suspended deputies.

Soto told Sherman that the $135,000 the deputies turned over as evidence was far short of the amount Soto was carrying. The shortage is tens of thousands of dollars, the lawyer said.

“This happens all the time in these (drug) cases,” Sherman said. “You mention it to the prosecutors and they just shrug. They’re not interested.”

Sherman would not say whether he filed a complaint in the Soto case. But a law enforcement source said that Sherman complained several times to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, which prosecuted Soto. The source did not know what action, if any, was taken on the allegation.

U.S. Atty. Gary A. Feess declined comment on any case involving the suspended deputies, spokeswoman Grace Denton said.

Richard Shinee, attorney for the union representing some of the named deputies, said he would have no immediate comment on the Soto case, or any other allegations against the suspended deputies. Deputy Bauder has denied any misconduct, but the other deputies have declined comment or could not be reached by The Times.

Law enforcement sources said they were not certain whether Soto’s complaints last fall had any impact on a sheriff’s inquiry into the nine-member narcotics team. But his allegations followed closely an internal audit last October that Sheriff Sherman Block has said revealed drug money was missing.

Allegations Spurred Probes

Sources have said the Sheriff’s Department inquiry and subsequent investigations by the FBI and IRS were prompted, in part, by cases such as Soto’s.

One federal source, quoting FBI narcotics investigators, said the money-skimming case was triggered by an anonymous letter that said there were “dirty cops” in the Sheriff’s Department, and the letter was traced to a sheriff’s copying machine.

The investigation was expanded, the source said, after dealers in two different drug cases alleged that more money had been seized from them than was turned in as evidence.

Sheriff’s officials and federal investigators who have taken over the probe declined to comment on the matter.

Eight deputies and a sergeant, all with the department at least nine years, were relieved of duty in what Block says is probably the biggest scandal during his seven-year tenure as head of the nation’s largest sheriff’s department.

In addition to Amers, Bauder and Cortez, the suspended officers include Sgt. Robert Sobel, Nancy A. Brown, Ronald E. Daub, John C. Dickenson, Daniel M. Garner and Michael J. Kaliterna.

A federal law enforcement source said the amount allegedly stolen by deputies during the past year could exceed $200,000. There was no indication that narcotics were also stolen, according to the department.

While Los Angeles County’s top drug prosecutor has said repeatedly that there is no indication that the scandal will jeopardize any cases, defense attorneys contended Thursday that some cases will be affected by the suspensions.

Ronald S. Miller, an attorney in an ongoing San Fernando Valley drug case, said that his client claims $150,000 in cash and about 200 gold coins are missing after being seized in an April raid by six of the suspended deputies.

Contends $250,000 Taken

Miller said that 26-year-old Mitchell Podwal, who faces cocaine trafficking charges, claims that about $250,000 in cash and some 1,000 gold coins were in his Northridge home when it was raided. The investigative team, headed by Bauder, reported seizing about $100,000 in cash and 730 gold coins of $5, $10 and $20 denominations. Also part of the raid were deputies Amers, Sobel, Cortez, Daub and Kaliterna, he said.

Miller said he has filed no complaint with the district attorney’s office, because “nobody wants to listen to these claims” by accused drug dealers. They are not taken seriously, he said.

The district attorney has filed suit in an attempt to keep the cash, claiming the money came from drug sales. Podwal maintains the money came from his work as a manager for rock bands and that the coins were gifts from relatives or belong to friends, Miller said.

Allegations in the Soto and Podwal cases are similar those lodged in 1987, when a defendant in a cocaine trafficking case contended that $140,000 was missing after a drug raid in Glendale.

Cortez and Garner were among six officers who searched two residences on Sept. 5, 1986, as part of an investigation into a suspected Colombian cocaine trafficking operation.

Amounts Differ

The deputies reported finding 264 pounds of cocaine plus $120,005 in cash and more than $212,000 in negotiable checks. However, one of the defendants--Jaime Ramos--testified in Superior Court in February, 1987, that there was actually $260,000 in drug money along with the checks at the two residences.

Ramos’ attorney in the case, Mitchell W. Egers, said he reported the discrepancy at the time to the district attorney’s special investigations division but never heard anything more about it.

Sandi Gibbons, a district attorney’s spokeswoman, said Thursday that she could find no record of any such complaint filed with her office.

Superior Court Judge Dion Morrow eventually ruled that the confiscated cocaine, cash and checks could not be used as evidence on grounds that they were obtained with an illegal search warrant.

Prosecutors appealed the ruling, but Ramos and the two other defendants pleaded guilty and were sentenced to state prison.